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School Internet Filtering: What are we really blocking?
If youre an educator like myself, I am sure that many of you cringed just reading the words Internet
filtering. Too often searching for useful lesson information on a school Intranet leads teachers to
find that the site they need is unnecessarily blocked and it will take the IT team days to unblock.
Although Internet censorship is necessary and valued by schools, its implementation seems tofrequently err on the overdone side and repeatedly a one-size fits all policy blocks useful educational
materials from teachers and students. While there is no doubt that schools have a fundamental duty
of care for students and site blocking is a key factor of schools cyber-safety strategy, internet
filtering is prohibiting students from accessing much more that just illegal and inappropriate sites
and content.
In Australia, most State Governments have banned popular online networking sites from public
schools after these sites were accused of supporting a broad range of threats to young people.
There have been many negative claims from both Australian politicians and media commentators
that online networks ; email, chat, social network sites, virtual online environments, are supporting
a wide array of threats to students including paedophilia, bullying, racism and unwantedpornographic and violent materials (Notely, 2008, p20).
However, social networking also provides new opportunities for individual expression, the creation
of online communities and collaboration. These communication tools are growing in popularity
amongst young people, but are being ignored or even feared by most schools. The education
benefits of these tools are rarely discussed or utilised. Typically sites like Facebook, Wikipedia and
YouTube are blocked in schools, because of the possibility risky content, even though they can
provide educational value. But are we really protecting students or preventing education?
There is no denying the many restrictions to the current internet censorship that is in place across
many Australia schools including:y School filtering which generally has to an all or nothing blocking system.
y Filtering sites to protect students from inappropriate content are limiting opportunities to
access the useful material for teaching and learning.
y Many schools have the same level of filtering across all grades and for teachers which
hampers learning for everyone (SICTAS, 2009).
The restrictions of current online filtering in regards to emerging technologies such as ICTs need to
be recognised so that better filtering system can be used that can accurately differentiation between
useful and offensive Web 2.0 content and tools. Education.au found that 41% of surveyed educators
considered site blocking to be a major impediment to their using technology in teaching (SICTAS,
2009, p17). Of the countless frustrated teachers in school site censoring for Web 2.0 sites many are
now employing work-around methods to incorporate blocked content into their classroom activities,
including downloading YouTube videos from home to a USB stick so they could use it in class.
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Risks and Rewards
For teachers, the Internet can be described as a two-edged sword, delivering both opportunity and
distraction to students. For tech savvy teachers, new technology and an emerging ICT culture
present exciting changes to how they teach students. For others, fear of student distraction and
disengagement, plagiarism as well as classroom management during computer lessons is frighting
and gives teachers a reason for avoiding online learning (Brandt & Williams, 2007). Regardless of
which category you fall into, outside of the classroom students are ignoring their cautious teachers
and using online services anyway. Many students arent waiting until they get home to go onto their
favourite sites but are finding ways to bypass filters at school.
This calls to question whether site blocking is really stopping students from looking at inappropriate
material. Student have the ability to break through filters or use home computers without filters or
using their mobiles internet, and are able to view what they wish anyway. Whether schools like it
or not students will be exposed to inappropriate material and potential dangers while online. So its
time that schools start educating students on cyber safety and not just believing that Internet filters
will stop students encountering online risks.
As every teacher knows teenagers take risks, more risks than any other age group. Young people,
especially those with low life satisfaction, may gain most from the online support and new
friendships that online networks can facilitate. However, young people are also likely to engage in
behaviour that may involve or lead to risk-taking online (Notely, 2009). In general the more time
young people spend online, the more skills they obtained, the more satisfying their experience, and
this increases the likelihood of students encountering risks. However, I believe the riskiest option
teachers can take is to not teach and expose children to potential online dangers. Schools and
teachers need to take responsibility for educating children on the dangers of being online, because
it is better for students to learn about cyber safety in a teacher guided environment than at home
by themselves (Murray, 2008).
While the risks young people encounter online have been researched and openly discussed, it is
much more difficult to verify online benefits. However, one of the key advantages of opening filters
to include online communication tools is to increase social connections for students and teachers.
Online networks enhance social interaction because of their accessibility and the way social
relationships are easily created and maintained online (Notely, 2009). Is it vital that student have
access to ICTs at school because studies show that 19% of Australians aged less than 15 years are
without home Internet access (Notely, 2009). Even if students do have computers at home, that is
not to say that they actually get to spend a great deal time at all using them, through either other
family member use or strict time allocations from parents.
Other educational possibilities of social networking sites include creating wikis, working together on
blogs or Ning groups. All of these online tools offer opportunities for more engagement and
collaboration with other students and teachers around the world. The quality of a school's web site
can greatly help schools to undertake interactive online activities safely and securely. The tools
offered on the school's web site can allow teachers to create safe online chat rooms and post blogs
to only people who have a school login. While there is always a chance of students adding
inappropriate information and harassing other students online, this can be controlled when teachers
start up a blog as they can put themselves as the administrator and approve all information before it
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is posted on the web. The value on social networking sites while under researched could be a
valuable tool for teachers to use to reengage students and make learning more collaborative and
important for teaching students about cyber safety (Brandt and Williams, 2007).
Reality for Teachers
Despite the desire of some teachers to explore the benefits of online tools for creativity and learningthey are restricted by educational authorities, limiting school policies and fear of legal action. While
most school teachers have the ability to request that a site be unblocked this is often a cumbersome
process that requires information to be submitted to a third party. When teachers need access to a
particular website as part of his or her lesson, the turnaround time on a request for access meant
the teaching opportunity would be missed. Teachers encounter a number of barriers in regard to
effective use of Web 2.0 in teaching and learning. Teachers often lack the knowledge and
confidence in ICTs, and are too worried of the potential risk of allowing students access to popular
social networking sites. A key challenge for teaching in a new online environment is for teachers and
students to develop strong Internet and digital literacy skills to not only be able to find, evaluate and
critique information but also collaborate safely online (Houghton, 2009).
Its time to Education
Teachers need to directly address online safety by teaching it openly in classrooms. Cyber safety in
schools needs to change from the traditional technically-driven reaction to Internet safety to a more
informed and proactive approach (Brandt & Williams, 2007).
We cannot sweep online safety under the classroom rug and pretend its not there. I believe that
blocking every site that could possibly be harmful to students is not educating them but instead
giving them a false sense of security online, which will not exist when they use the Internet at home
or on their mobiles. Despite any schools best efforts Internet filters cant block out all inappropriate
materials, as even typing seemingly innocent words like snake into Google Images can still bring uppornographic photos. While teachers or parents will never be able to control students behaviour
online, it would be careless not to try to educator students about online risks and educational
benefits of online technology.
Schools are currently blocking sites out of fear and lack of understanding, and not because of sites
terms of service which demonstrates a need for better awareness. While some sites need to be
blocked, there needs to be valid justification for this restricted access to schools Internet. Teachers
need to understand the online environment, both socially and practically. Teachers should be
encouraged to talk with their students about the benefits and the risks, to educate them about the
threats to personal safety and realise the benefits of online collaboration by learning about how to
minimise the risks.
Cyber-safety in schools needs to include more than just Internet filtering, but also educational
activities targeted at teachers, students and parents to promote awareness and skills in areas such
as using technology, digital literacy, cyber-bullying, identity protection and the legal responsibility of
schools to minimise risk (SICTAS, 2009, p11).
Moving Forward
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To understand the potential of emerging online sites for education, teachers need training in online
management tools and intranet tools which can compliment real work online. To be relevant,
teachers need to understand online culture by being part of it themselves. There is no substitute for
technical knowledge and teachers simply need to gain it to be Internet savvy. Teachers with
technical expertise and specific online knowledge should be able to read URLs and recognise
inappropriate sites more quickly and avoid dangerous content (Brandt &Williams, 2007).
Schools also need a clear policy and set of procedures about prevention of unsafe online practices
based on updated and accurate knowledge from ICT and IT experts, rather than a set of negative
rules or restricting of technical processes. This can be complimented by students signing contracts
to agree to use the school Internet responsibly and not use the Internet for inappropriate content.
Schools should all have a clear policy which describes the consequences of deliberate breaches of
guidelines (Murray, 2008).
New digital tools like ICTS provides significant opportunities to improve student learning and
emerging ICTs significantly contribute to furthering personalised learning and support the
development digital literacy. However the current default position in most schools is to block online
communication tools. Current site blocking process is ineffective and frustrating for both teachers
and students. Schools need to find a better balance between cyber-safety concerns and the desire
for innovative Web 2.0 style collaborative teaching and learning. Instead of being reactive to the
changing tools of the internet and block useful sites, schools need to better inform themselves of the
benefits of these sites as well as teaching cyber safety and not pretending the internet filter will
protect students from online risks.
References
Brandt, T., & Williams, M., 2007, School based habits for online safety, Q uick, Spring Issue, vol 104,
pp.4-9, viewed 24 July 2010, University of Canberra E-Reserve.
Houghton, B., 2009, Notebooks, Netwooks and Internet Safety Are you ready for the digital age
revolution? , Teacher, Vol 207, December, pp.40-42, viewed 20 July 2010, University of Canberra E-
Reserve.
Murray, C., 2008, Schools and social networking: Fear or education, Synergy, Vol 6, pp. 8-12, viewed
20 July 2010, University of Canberra E-Reserve.
Notely, T., 2008, Online Newtwork Use in Schools, Youth Studies Australia, September, Vol 27,
pp.20-29, viewed 24 July 2010, University of Canberra E-Reserve.
SICTAS, 2009, Web 2.0 site blocking in schools, viewed 17 July 2010, University of Canberra E-
Reserve, http://www.educationau.edu.au/sites/default/files/SICTAS-nsi.pdf .